Swivel device



April 2, 1940. F. PERKINS SWIVEL DEVICE Filed June 2, 1939 ORNEY vPatented Apr. 2, 1940 UNITED STATES rarest OFFICE SWIVEL DEVICEApplication June 2, 1939, Serial No. 276,996

8 Claims.

This invention relates generally to swivel devices. More particularly,my invention relates to an improved construction for swivel devices andto an improved method of assembling the parts thereof.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a swivel deviceconstruction of the character described which shall comprise relativelyfew and simple parts, which shall be quick and easy to assemble, whichshall be relatively inexpensive to manufacture and which, at the sametime, shall be highly efiicient in use.

Another object of my invention is to provide in a swivel deviceconstruction comprising a plu- 15 rality of parts and a novel method ofassembling the said parts.

Other objects of my invention will in part be obvious and in parthereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists inthe fea- 2 In the accompanyingdrawing, in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments ofthis invention,

Fig. 1 is an edge elevational view of a swivel device constructed andassembled in accordance 30 with my invention; i

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially'on the line 2-2of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a disassociated View, partly in section, illustrating themanner of assembling the parts 35 of the device shown in Fig. l; and

Figs. 4 and 5 are perspective views of certain of the parts shown inFig. 3.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, I have disclosed a suitableswivel device H), such as for I 40 example, of the pulley type andcomprising the relatively rotatable parts ll and I2.

Heretofore swivel devices of the character described having relativelyindependently rotatable parts have been so designed that they were gen-5 erally assembled during the molding or casting operation. This methodof manufacture was attended with many disadvantages such as, forexample, the inability to provide smooth fitting parts which were at thesame time independently ro- 50 tatable, due to the very nature of thecasting process. Also, the previous casting method of manufacture wasrelatively expensive and limited assembling the same in which the abovedescribed disadvantages have been overcome. While in the drawing I haveshown my invention as applied to the type of swivel device employing apulley, it is understood that my invention may be satisfactorilypracticed in connection with any other type of swivel device.

In the drawing I have shown the part l2 designed to carry the pulleyl3-as comprising a pair of parallel spaced walls l5 and It provided withaligned apertures into which there is fixed a transverse shaft l Icarrying a rotatably mounted pulley it. The walls l5 and I6 areinterconnected at the bottom thereof by an integral wall it and atthetop by an integral wall I9. 5 The top wall i9 is provided with athrough opening 28 which is tapered as shown in Fig. 3. The part i I isdesigned to serve as an attachment member and is provided withan eyeopening 2! and an integral cylindrical depending shank 22. The said parti i is preferably flared outwardly at the bottom thereof as shown inFig. 3 to provide a shoulder portion 23 wider than the shank 22.

It is noted thatthe shank 22 is tapered outwardly from the shoulder 23,such taper having the 25 same degree of angularity and in the samedirection as the taper of the opening 20 in the part !2. The shank 22and the opening 20 are so designed relatively to each other that thesmallest diameter ct-b of the opening 20 will be slightly larger thanthe largest diameter cd of the shank 22. Itis thus seen from the abovedescribed construction that the shank 22 of the part H may be readilyinserted into the opening 20 and that the distance of such insertion islimited by the shoulder 23.

For quickly and permanently assembling the parts i i and i2 there isprovided a hollow plug member Zishown in Figs. 3 and 5. The said member24 comprises a solid base portion 25 40 and a cylindrical wall 26upstanding therefrom to define an opening 2'! in said wall 26. Theoutside diameter of the wall it is slightly smaller than the largestdiameter ef of the opening it so that the free edge 26!]. of thecylindrical Wall 26 may fit into the opening it) for a slight distance.In assembling the device, the shank 22 is first inserted in the openingZli so that the shoulder it rests at the top edge of the wall IS. Theshank 22 is centered within the opening 20 to provide an annular spacebetween the outer surface of the shank 22 and the inner surface of thewall 26. The member 24 is then forced into the said annular spacesurrounding the shank 22, from the enlarged end e--j toward theconstricted end ab. Due to the taper of the wall of the opening 20, thecylindrical wall 26 will be forced into a tapered shape to conform tothe tapers of the shank 22 and the opening and will appear as shown inFig. 2 of the drawing. In this manner the part ll will be held captivelyengaged with respect to the part 12 and the said parts II and i2 will atthe same time be free to rotate relatively to and independently of eachother. The diameter of the wall 25 of the member 24 is so designed withrespect to the sizes of the opening 29 and shank 22 as to provide aslight clearance when bent into position as shown in Fig. 2 so as topermit free rotational movement of the shank 22 captively held inposition by the member 2 The amount or distance to which the cylindricalwall 26 is inserted within the opening 26 is limited by the shoulderportion 25a of the base 25.

From the above described construction it is thus seen that the parts Hand 52 which go to make up the swivel device have been assembled in asimple manner and with great speed and at the same time the said partsmay be made of such material which can be automatically machined andthus produced relatively inexpensively.

It will thus be seen that there is provided a device in which theseveral objects of this invention are achi ved, and which is welladapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention,and various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, itis to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in theaccompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. A device of the character described comprising a pair ofindependently relatively rotatable parts, one of said parts having atapered opening, the other of parts having a shank portion thereofreceived in said opening, and means comprising a sleeve men: 181' havinga continuous wall for captively holding said parts in assembledrelationship, said sleeve member and said shank portion being in opposedrelationship.

2. A device of the character described comprising a pair ofindependently relatively rotatable parts, one of said parts having atapered opening, the other of said parts having a shank portion thereofreceived in said opening, and means for captively holding said parts inassembled relationship, said last named means comprising a sleeve memberhaving a continuous wall portion thereof frictiona 1:; received in saidtapered opening and freely surrounding the said portion of said part inopening, said sleeve member and said shank portion being in opposedrelationship.

3. A. device of the character described comprising a first part having atapered opening, a second part having a portion thereof taperingoutwardly towards its free end and freely received within said opening,and means for permanently holding said parts in assembled relationship,said last named means comprising a member having a hollow portiontapering inwardly towards its free end, said second part tapered portionbeing freely received within said hollow tapered member portion and thesaid hollow tapered portion being frictionally received within saidfirst part tapered opening.

4. A swivel device of the character described comprising a first parthaving a tapered opening, a second part having a portion thereoftapering outwardly towards its free end and freely received in saidopening, and a member having a hollow portion tapering inwardly towardits free end and frictionally received in said first part taperedopening and freely surrounding said second part portion, said secondpart and said member extending on opposite sides of said first part,whereby to hold said first and second parts permanently assembled and atthe same time to permit of independent relative rotation of said parts.

5. A swivel device of the character described comprising a first parthaving a tapered opening therethrough tapering in one direction, asecond part having a portion thereof tapering utwardly towards its freeend and freely received within said opening, and means for permanentlyholding said parts in assembled relationship, said last named meanscomprising a member having a hollow portion tapering inwardly towardsits free end, said first part tapered portion being freely receivedwithin said hollow tapered member portion and the said hollow taperedportion being frictionally received within said first part taperedopening, the angularity of the tapers of said first part opening, saidsecond part tapered portion and said member hollow portion beingsubstantially the same.

6. In a swivel device having independently relatively rotatable parts, athrough tapered opening in one of said parts, a member frictionally heldin said opening, a tapered shank in the other of said pair of parts,said tapered shank being received in an opening in said member andfreely rotatably held therein, said member and said tapered shank partbeing disposed on opposides of said opening.

7. In a method of assembling the parts of a swivel device wherein one ofsaid parts is provided with a shank and the other of said parts isprovided with a corresponding opening to freely receive said shanktherein, that improvement which consists of the step of forcing a memberbetween the outer surface of said shank and the wall of said opening tothereby deform said member by decreasing a portion of its diameter tocaptively hold the said shank freely rotatable in said opening.

8. In a method of assembling the parts of a swivel device wherein one ofsaid parts is provided with a tapered shank and the other of said partsis provided with a correspondingly tapered opening, that improvementwhich consists of the steps of inserting said shank into said openingthrough the smaller end of said opening and forcing a member between thesaid shank and the wall of said opening through the larger end of saidopening in a direction toward the smaller end of said opening to therebydeform said third member to captively hold the said shank freelyrotatable in said opening.

FREDERICK PERKINS.

